Ownership of Labour Force in Socialist Mode of Production — Social or Private Property?

Modern economists and sociologists seldom present their ideas in terms of labor force. This category however, has an important function in Marxist- -Leninist theory of historical and modern socio-economic structures. On the other hand, none of the classics ever provided an unambiguous solution of the question of labor ownership in a socialist society. Theoreticians of the present day are viewing this question in aspect of the directly social work vs. labor force as a commodity problem. According to Marx teachings a possibility of labor sale by owners is a specific feature of private ownership. In the opinion of many Marxists labor is not considered to be a commodity under socialist conditions. Yet the proof of this thesis is not quite convincing. Moreover, the idea advocating the directly social character of work in a modern socialist society is relevant neither to facts of present economic reality, nor to the Marxist sense of this concept. The socialisit law of division of goods according to work does not eliminate the possibility of labor exchange in the socialist economy. Generally the ideas negating a private character of labor in the socialist system of production are ignoring or underestimating the conaitioning of the socialist system of ownership by means of resource structure, social division of labor and of the exchange of goods and money. The author declares a new approach to the interpretation of concepts of collective, personal and private ownership of labor. Labor has a character of personal ownership when it is used for providing for personal needs. When it is satisfying the needs of others not through the exchange of goods it has a character of social ownership, whereas being on sale it functions as an object of private ownership. According to the above classification the ownership of labor has a private character in the socialst mode of production. This idea follows the teachings of Lenin which assumed a future complete collectivization of labor in classless communist society, lt also facilitates the examination of a process of transformation of the private ownership of socialist labor force into the ownership of collective character.Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/201